Predicting what is going to happen to the Western MMO market in 2013 seems a lot harder than doing the same for 2012. But when it comes to random guessing about stuff I only half understand, I’m going to give it my best shot. Continue reading
Tagged with 38 Studios …
Great MMO Studio Collapses of Our Time – 38 Studios
So, what’s the take-out here? Obviously the market conditions that 38 Studios launched with in 2006 were very different to those it expired under in 2012, with investors no longer interested in pouring tens of millions of dollars into MMO development. But it’s not like 38 Studios should have been strapped for cash – as identified, they had at least US$135m put into the studio. Yes, they got a single player title out, but it fell a long way short of the initial “broad media” dreams, or even releasing the promised MMO, while burning a lot of cash. Continue reading
All Just A Little Bit of History, Repeating – 38 Studios Versus RealTime Worlds
I was going to continue with my current series, but looking at the collapse of RealTime Worlds really brought home the similarities between that event and the collapse of 38 Studios. Observe: RealTime World’s collapse was a big thing at the time, but they didn’t have any public money involved with them (that I’m aware … Continue reading
What’s Wrong With The AAA MMO Industry, Using An Imperfect Baseball Analogy
You’re the head manager of a new baseball team. You’re passionate about what you want to achieve, have some great ideas in mind and have at least enough money to get things rolling. When you tell other people about what your team is going to achieve, they sound excited too. You know that you are … Continue reading
New Blogger Initiative (#MMONBI) – Fear The Power of Syp!
In the past month: Dominus closed EA BioWare laid off a lot of people from Star Wars: The Old Republic 38 Studios imploded Fallen Earth was cut back to bare bones staffing numbers The Secret World delayed its launch Some may see the above as just the culmination of a number of bad things happening … Continue reading
38 Studios: Striking Out
Concluding my previous look at 38 Studios and possibly how all the money got spent is the news that 38 Studios has shut down, laid everyone off (including the Big Huge Games team) and will likely now be carved up and sold in order for Rhode Island to possibly get some money back. There’s an … Continue reading
38 Studios: Incentivising Your Own Destruction, Plus Hot Chart Action!
In my previous bit of armchair expert analysis on 38 Studios current situation I ended with the statement that the “financial maths” hadn’t been done correctly, or had been ignored. But then I thought that may not have been clear what I meant. As such: charts! I’m basing these charts predominantly off this article’s timeline … Continue reading
How 38 Studios Spends $4m a Month On Operation Costs (Probably)
An interesting factoid emerged in the wake of 38 Studios struggling to come up with the cash to make a good faith loan payment back to Rhode Island and fund its payroll: it was announced that it costs them US$4m per month in operating costs to stay open. 38 Studios apparently has 379 full-time staff. … Continue reading
World Class Villains 